Diagnosis: Skanky Skin Syndrome

Everyone cancels discretionary vet visits on bad weather days, so I knew there would be openings.  Odie and I went into town for a 3:00 p.m. appointment. 

He has skanky skin.  (That's my term, not what the vet called it.)  He looked a lot better after the bath, but the skankiness was coming back.  It's a yeast infection, and likely bacteria along with it.  He's getting another bath tonight, we are doubling the dose of antibiotics and may add an oral anti-fungal med as well.  He's also going to start on prednisone to help the itching and make him more comfortable, and when the vet calls with the results of the thyroid test I'm going to ask about adding an antihistamine as well. 

I bought Odie a bag of venison and potato dog food that he will be on exclusively, and I'm going to use of the ground venison in my freezer instead of canned food to get him to gobble up the handful of pills that he will be taking.






















The underlying cause for this could be allergy, thyroid, or an autoimmune disorder, or some combination of those or other problems.  I'm hoping for allergy or thyroid, as they would be easiest to manage.  It might have been a flea allergy that just got way out of control.  All we can do is get him well, back off the meds, and then see what happens.

The good news is that he tested negative for heartworm/lyme/erlichia and his stool sample was negative.  He got all the basic vaccines and I fixed him up with a nice new collar with his new tags, but I'm not putting it on him while he's still so skanky.  The other good news is that he was good with the vet, handling, blood work, and all.  And his teeth are in good shape, worn down in front from chewing, but little tartar.  He may not be as old as he looks right now. 

This evening he started on the prednisone with his evening antibiotic and the new food.  Then he came in and had another bath.  This one was easier, he wasn't scared and trusted me more, and I think it felt good when I was scratching the dry flaky skin off his back.  The only part he really didn't care for was the ear cleaning.  I basically climbed into the tub with him and sat on him when necessary and we got along fine.  He is sleeping away in his crate this evening and not scratching at all.